VII. Knowledge is Power

The Empress is aware that the constant drumbeat of “breaking news” and other forms of media reporting are causing great stress for many Americans, and harming our “National psyche”. The Empress is also aware that fear equals increased public attention, ratings, “clicks”, and revenue for media outlets. Your Empress is concerned about the well-being of all Americans and wishes to address news reporting on current events that may cause unnecessary fear.

There are many serious issues upon which one can focus, but one of the most basic, and current, is food production and distribution.

From the beginnings of our cherished Nation, Americans have persevered, fought, and survived far greater threats than at present. Americans are far more powerful, resourceful, industrious, problem-solving, and tenacious than they are given credit for. From the earliest American settlers to a long line of immigrant communities building on and adding to early American successes, Americans knew how to survive and thrive.

The issue of food supplies should be taken as a wake-up call and an opportunity to learn. The Empress hopes that all Americans will reclaim their power. Fear should have no place in the American DNA.

When anyone feels anxious or powerless facing the latest crisis, or when anyone worries about diminishing food supplies, they should ask about where our “daily bread” comes from, and what issues our food producers are facing. Americans can empower themselves with some of the following activities:

• Learning how and when to plant seeds and cultivate produce.
• Learning what food could grow in your neighborhood, on your land, or even in your apartment.
• Consider neighbors – how would your community come together during a time of crisis?
• Coming together as a community by creating a communal emergency storage system.
• Learning about issues affecting farmers in our Nation.
• Watching documentaries on food production and distribution, or PBS docuseries such as Frontier House and Pioneer House to see what happens when modern individuals and families have to start from scratch in a historically accurate simulation of our earliest settlements or homesteads.
• Starting a community garden.
• Learning if your local schools still have gardening projects for the students, Future Farmers of America (FFA), 4H, or other community programs.
• Supporting a local food bank.
• Supporting nearby churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and community service organizations (Lion’s Club, Rotary, etc.) and learning how these local organizations are helping our communities.  Assist these religious and community organizations as soon as possible.

The American social contract needs to be strengthened. We can reaffirm our common American narrative.

Our ancestors came together, cooperated, divided labor, got to work, and made the system work for us. We have also fed the world. In the 1920s, when Russia was facing a devastating famine, the United States stepped up and saved millions from starvation through the American Rescue Administration (ARA). America continues to be a food provider wherever needed through many organizations. Although our systems of food production and distribution have become highly complex, “corporatized”, and global in recent years, we are still capable of assuring food supplies for our own population – if we re-connect ourselves with these systems.

With freedom comes the responsibility of being prepared to protect yourself, your family, your community, and your Nation. If we all know what to do, we cannot be frightened into inaction and submission. The growing idea that government can solve all of our problems must be curtailed. It is time to re-declare our independence in the most practical way and take personal responsibility for our own food.